


Engaged

by phoenixnz



Series: Clexmas [13]
Category: Smallville
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 12:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7361866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixnz/pseuds/phoenixnz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lex has something to ask both Jonathan and Clark</p>
            </blockquote>





	Engaged

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Digitalwave](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Digitalwave/gifts).



Jonathan was busy moving sacks of feed from the back of the truck when Lex pulled up in the classic Dodge Charger. He’d bought the car a couple of years ago in an effort to show his father-in-law that he wasn’t just some pretentious rich kid. Jonathan had grinned at him, got in the driver’s seat and told him to get in the other side where he’d proceeded to give Lex the wildest car ride he’d ever experienced. Which was saying a lot since Lex had often been lectured about his own tendency to race.

Martha had just shaken her head in exasperation. What is it with men and cars, she’d asked to no one in particular.

Jonathan paused in the middle of his work, looking at Lex as he stood by the car, who gazed back at him with a hopeful expression. With a grin, the blond farmer dropped the last feed bag on the pile and ambled over. Lex stepped aside, letting his father-in-law slip in. For some reason, Jonathan never actually opened the door but slid inside through the open window.

The older man nodded his head toward the passenger side and Lex got in. With a whoop and a crunch of gravel, Jonathan took off, performing a tight turn as he headed toward the highway.

Lex remained silent, wishing he didn’t feel so nervous. Now he understood what people meant by the expression butterflies in the stomach because it felt like he had a million of them all fluttering around.

Jonathan noticed his attitude and slowed the car.

“Okay, what’s up?” he asked.

“Uh …”

“C’mon, Lex. You decided to drive the Dodge over. You only do that when you need something from me.”

That was true, Lex thought. They’d had some good chats over the years, most of them when out in the car. He’d always loved it when the older man would give his perspective on life. Clark would often roll his eyes at his father’s ‘down home’ platitudes, but Lex valued the wisdom that came from someone who had long ago put aside his hostility toward the Luthors and treated him as his own.

“There’s something I wanted to ask you,” he said. “But I’m a little apprehensive.”

Jonathan frowned at him. “Apprehensive? What about? Am I that much of an ogre, Lex?”

“No,” he assured him, shaking his head. “I mean, I feel closer to you than I do to my own father, and that’s saying a lot.”

Jonathan reached over and patted his knee.

“You’re a good man, Lex. I know I was a little judgemental in the past, but that’s all behind us now. I told you once I couldn’t be prouder of you if you were my own son, and I still mean that.”

“Thank you … Dad,” he said hesitantly.

Jonathan smiled at him and pulled the car over.

“So … what are you so nervous about?”

“I was thinking about … uh, formalising things between Clark and I.”

He bit his lip. God, that sounded so lame for something so meaningful. He and Clark had been together, as a couple at least, since Clark was sixteen. Ten years. Now that the laws were changing, Lex wanted to take the opportunity to show his partner that he was in it for the long haul. Til death do them part.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow.

“You mean …”

“I want to ask him to marry me.”

“Are you asking for my blessing?”

“Yes, and … I don’t know how to propose. I mean, I thought about taking Clark to … I don’t know, Paris, or somewhere, or a nice restaurant …”

“Lex, you have my blessing, but I don’t think you should propose by taking Clark to the top of the Eiffel Tower or anything.”

Lex had wanted to send his in-laws on a romantic second honeymoon, although technically it would be their first, since they really hadn’t been able to afford a proper honeymoon when they’d first got married, and he’d suggested a week in Paris. Jonathan and Martha had protested, telling him they didn’t need an expensive vacation. Eventually, Lex had worn them down by telling them that they deserved to have a proper vacation, and it wasn’t that expensive. He’d even given them the paperwork to prove it.

Lex frowned at his father-in-law, not quite understand.

“How did you propose to Martha?” he asked.

Jonathan smiled. “I took her to a restaurant.” He chuckled. “I was so nervous that night I couldn’t eat a bite. I just kept looking at her thinking if she turned me down I would never recover. Then I remembered some advice my dad gave me. Just be myself. So I sat next to her and told her we’d never be rich, we’d never travel the world, but I would always love her.”

“And she said yes?”

“Without hesitation. The point is, Clark doesn’t need fancy gestures, son. All he needs to know is that you love him and want to spend the rest of your life with him.”

Lex thought about that on the way home and hit on the perfect solution. He called Oliver and Bruce and asked them to keep Clark from being called on any Justice League emergencies. The two superheroes laughed when he told them what he was planning.

“Just don’t burn the house down,” Bruce replied, chuckling.

“Unlike you?” Lex shot back, remembering a story of a drunken Bruce burning Wayne Manor to the ground.

“That was different,” Bruce growled.

Clark arrived home to find his partner busy at the counter, moving back and forth between the ceramic cook top and the oven. Lex looked up and smiled at him.

“Hey,” he said. “How was your day?”

“Uh, it was fine. The usual. What are you doing?”

“Cooking dinner.”

Clark frowned at him. Lex didn’t usually cook unless they did it together.

“Anything I can do to help?” he asked.

“Nope.” Lex waved at him. “You just relax. Go put your feet up. I’ll pour you a glass of your favourite wine and be right out.”

O-o-o-kay, Clark thought, moving to the living room. The ottoman was sitting beside his favourite chair. The tv remote was sitting on the arm of the chair, the tv guide neatly on the coffee table. This was getting even weirder, he decided.

Lex came out with a glass of wine.

“Here you go,” he said with a smile.

Again Clark frowned at him. Lex seemed nervous for some reason. He took the glass and patted the chair.

“Sit with me. Tell me about your day.”

“Uh, I really need to keep an eye on dinner.”

“Lex …”

“It’s fine. Really. I just don’t want to burn anything.”

Deciding there was little he could do about his partner’s odd behaviour, Clark switched on the tv and pressed the key for the news channel, settling back to watch the day’s events.

Half an hour passed with the only sounds in the house the television and the occasional mutterings from Lex as he worked in the kitchen. Clark was tempted to get up and go see what his boyfriend was doing, but didn’t want to be rebuffed.

Clark was already bored with the news when Lex came out to announce dinner was ready. Clark followed him into the dining room to see the array of dishes. Lex had cooked an Italian chicken dish. There was the rich aroma from the herbs and spices in the sauce. There was a pasta salad, green beans, baby potatoes dripping with butter - the real kind, not the imitation and Clark’s favourite red wine.

“Wow, this looks great Lex.”

His partner stood by his chair, looking pale. Clark wondered what he was so nervous about. Lex had made an effort to learn to cook and by the look of the food on the table he had done a great job.

“Uh, so, let’s eat,” he said, with a definite tremor in his voice.

Clark didn’t see what his partner had to be nervous about as they ate. He quickly noticed Lex barely touched the food, but it was perfectly cooked and delicious.

He finished his meal and looked at his boyfriend.

“That was great, Lex,” he said.

“Thanks,” the other man replied, trying for a smile.

“Okay, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Lex, you’ve hardly touched your food. You cooked a delicious meal for us. I mean, don’t think I’m not impressed, because I am, but you’ve been acting strange since I got home. What’s going on?”

Lex bit his lip. “Do you think about the future, Clark?”

Did he? When he had been a sophomore in high school, his principal had given him an assignment to write an essay saying where he would be in five years’ time. He’d thought the essay was kind of stupid, since he couldn’t have possibly known where he would end up, but looking back, he realised the man was just trying to get him to consider his options. To think about his strengths and decide on some goals. After all, it was a proven method of helping athletes to improve their performance by getting them to visualise their goal.

“Sometimes. Not all the time.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the future lately. And the past. I sometimes wonder what kind of man I’d be if I didn’t have you in my life. I think about what I might have become and frankly, that scares me sometimes. I mean, I probably would have become my father.”

“Lex, what are you saying?”

Lex scooted his chair closer to Clark, taking his hand.

“I need you to know that the last ten years with you have been the best of my life and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. I know I can be a pain in the ass sometimes. I have been called arrogant, and obnoxious and I know I can act pretentious at times, but the one constant in my life has been you. You are the one person who keeps reminding me of the good in the world. You believe in me, Clark.”

Comprehension dawned. Clark remembered a story he’d been told long ago of a certain event in his parents’ lives, and this felt exactly like the way he imagined his parents would have felt on that night.

“Lex,” he said.

His partner took a small box from his pocket, his hand trembling.

“I know you don’t need anything fancy, so I decided to just speak from the heart. I love you, Clark. Will you marry me?”

Clark felt the weight of his emotions, tears pricking his eyes as he looked at the love of his life. Lex looked at him, his own gaze full of hope and love. Clark opened the box to see the simple platinum band nestled there.

“Yes.”


End file.
